Grafton Harbor at the Confluence

Thursday, September 11, 2014

We were ready to leave the barge on Thursday morning but, with all the rain and debris, few boats at our next stop, Grafton Harbor, were moving on so we had to wait to find out if there would be an open slip. We did have reservations there but we needed to confirm there would actually be a slip available for us. This required us to wait till 9 a.m. when the office opened up. So much for an early 7 a.m. departure!

Thursday morning and still tied up to barge at Beardstown
 

We finally got the OK to go ahead after 9 a.m. and with help from one of the barge workers we nosed out into the current, turned and started down stream. You can see the first bridge we had to clear on the left in the photo above. Fortunately they were all high enough for us to go under with our mast down or they lifted as we approached. The water was rising due to all the rain and so we had to check with each bridge operator to see if we had enough clearance. We had an 88 mile trip ahead of us, but the 2 mph current helped us along.

Possibly a grain refinery along the way
 

The industrial area gave way to green trees along the banks. We enjoyed the trip even though we had to watch for debris all along the way. The water was chocolate brown with lots of mud. It was overcast and we didn't see the sun all day.

TA TA passing by barges parked along the side of the river
 

This was our longest day, as far as distance, since we have started the trip. The current gave us a little push and we stepped it up a bit so we would get to our destination of Grafton Harbor before 6 p.m. The marina is just north of the confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi rivers where the waterway really widens.
It was a great welcome as we arrived - lots of Loop boats were there and people, including Steve and Gina from Island Time were on hand to catch our lines as we backed into our slip. There wasn't time to do anything as far as tucking away the boat before we were invited to join everyone at the Big Kahuna Lounge above the marina store and office. We saw familiar faces and met some new friends including Mark and Becky from Mara Beel - great time! This is a complete change from being tied to a barge - which is a good thing because it looks like we might be here a while.

Meeting new friends Brenda and Glen from Young at Heart
 

Captain’s Log September 8, 2014

Departed: Beardstown Ill. Tugston Barge 9:10
Engine hours: 9.3 hrs.
Actual hours: 8 hr. 40 min.
Miles covered: 88.45
Arrived: Grafton, Il.  5:5 p.m.
Dodged lots of debris, 2 mph current. Long, tedious cruise, nice to see Grafton Harbor
Wx: Overcast, misty, light winds, chilly temps

Friday, Sept 9 - Thursday, Sept 18

The first thing John did the next morning was to call Hoppie's Marine Services which is on the Mississippi River. That is the next stop on our trip, but many boats had been held up due to locks closing and the flooding on the Mississippi. There were many ahead of us scheduled to stay there and they can only accommodate about 5 boats at a time. Hoppie, who just had his 78th birthday, and his wife, Fern, are legends, especially to boaters on the loop, because they have lived and worked on the river all their lives and their input is invaluable to us newbies. The first opening they had was next Thursday, the 18th so we hope that the flooding crests and the huge debris fields we have heard about clear by then.Meanwhile, we are enjoying this little town and the camaraderie of all the people here. When Roger was out running he saw a sign for a fish fry which was a fund raiser for the local fire station and EMT service. So he rounded up a group and off we went on a beautiful Saturday morning.

Loading up in the courtesy van to go to the fish fry - Roger on left is our
driver and John, in blue hooded jacket, rode shotgun
 

We thought we would be having local catfish but found out that it was buffalo head - a type of carp - did we really want to eat this? John opted for the bratwurst, but I decided to throw caution to the wind and had the fish. It was very mild tasting with a cornmeal coating and already nicely deboned - not bad.

Stu, Julie, John and Roger
 

Mary, on the left, and Diane & Henry who are traveling on their homebuilt
Blue Jacket 28' outboard, De De

 

The next day we went with another group to the Pere Marquette Park to
have lunch at the rustic lodge there
 

On Monday we drove with Diane and Henry in their rental car to the town of St. Charles in Missouri. As you can see from the photo below, the ferry we took is basically a barge with a tow pushing it. The tow is attached to the ferry with a trailer hitch kind of  connection and it just swings around to push in the other direction. We were relieved to see that there wasn't a lot of debris in the river.

Barge to take us across the Missouri
 

The barge landing was flooded and they had a very simple landing spot!

Kathy and Diane in St. Charles with the Missouri River
in background at left
 

Last night we celebrated the completion of a loop trip as Satisfaction with John and Pat returned here to their home port. That was fun - pizza for everyone and lots of congratulations.

The night before we had to say good-bye for now to our dear traveling companions Mary and Roger on TA TA. They are taking advantage of this delay to rent a car and drive to Ontario to see family since they won't be this far north until next year. They don't plan to be back until next weekend but we still have the green light to leave on Thursday with 3 other boats. The flood waters have started to recede and we hope the debris around St. Louis and south of there will have cleared out. Several boats that we have been in contact with made it through yesterday and the day before.We don't expect to have an internet connection again until late next week when we get off the Ohio River and start the Tennessee.